Ducks Are Hammered, First by Dallas, Then by Dollas

Stars and tripe.

Good against the Kings, who were without several of their best defensemen and playing for the second consecutive night, is one thing, but good against league powers is quite another.

The Dallas Stars hammered home that point to the Mighty Ducks on Monday with a 3-2 victory before an announced 16,072 at the Pond.

The Stars won with a commitment to their game plan, strong goaltending, relentless pressure and a physical defense.

The Ducks?

Well, they chucked their game plan after only a few minutes, fell victim to a lucky bounce and didn’t apply enough sustained offense to win.

These sorts of performances are starting to wear on defenseman Bobby Dollas, who isn’t given to hiding his feelings but has grown tired of expressing his disappointment.

“We knew going into the game that they were going to dump the puck and we still got hammered in our own end,” Dollas said. “We had a game plan and didn’t stick to it.”

This was the Ducks’ league-high 11th loss. They are last in the Pacific Division, 18 points behind first-place Colorado. And, although it’s only November, they are fading quickly from contention.

“It wasn’t until the last five minutes that we looked like a team that wanted to win the game,” Dollas said. “We were lucky it was only 3-2. It could have been 4-0 in the first period.”

Indeed.

The Ducks played a surprisingly listless first 20 minutes in light of their impressive, 7-4, victory over the Kings on Friday.

Dallas led, 1-0, after the first period, outshot the Ducks, 21-2, and dominated both ends of the ice with its physical play. The Stars dumped the puck into the attacking zone, pried it from the Duck defenders and pressured goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov.

The Ducks couldn’t seem to get through the neutral zone without losing the puck. “We just tried these fancy plays at the blue line,” right wing Teemu Selanne said.

The Ducks went to the dressing room after the first period and “we were really angry and some guys were yelling,” Selanne said.

Asked if the Ducks could win with the current roster or whether changes need to be made by General Manager Jack Ferreira, Selanne said:

“I know this team can play well, stick to the game plan and win these games. I think, honestly, if the other team scores three goals, we have enough talent to score four goals. I think we haven’t played as well as we should play. We have made too many mistakes and let teams score easy goals.

“I still trust this team. I trust we’re going to get better. There’s still time to get rolling again.”

Former King Darryl Sydor scored the Stars’ first goal and Joe Nieuwendyk added a second at the 3:34 mark of the second period.

But the Ducks fought back. Paul Kariya scored on a pass from Selanne for his fourth goal in four games and Alex Hicks swept in a rebound off the end boards to tie the score, 2-2.

“With a little more luck we could have won this game,” Selanne said.

Greg Adams’ game-winning goal required a lucky bounce, but more hard work and more life wouldn’t have hurt the Ducks.

With rookie Duck defenseman Ruslan Salei in the penalty box for elbowing Todd Harvey, Mike Modano broke his stick on a point-blank slap shot. The blade went one direction, the puck the other--to Adams, camped at the left post.

Adams tucked the puck behind Shtalenkov for a 3-2 Dallas lead at the 17:08 mark of the second period.

The Stars’ defense then sealed the victory for goalie Andy Moog, who won his 335th game and tied Gump Worsley for sixth on the NHL’s all-time list.

In the game’s final minute and with Shtalenkov pulled for an extra attacker, Selanne and Kariya each had terrific scoring chances.

Moog handled Selanne’s blistering slap shot from the left faceoff circle. Kariya’s open shot off a set play after Kevin Todd won a faceoff from Modano missed the net at the buzzer.

“It was tougher than it looked in my end,” said Moog, who stopped 19 of 21 shots. “This is pretty exciting. [Worsley] was an idol of mine. I have pictures and autographs of him.”